Buick delighted to add Carlisle to his list of winning tracks
A first visit to Carlisle paid dividends for William Buick after the dual champion jockey bagged a double, highlighted by an impressive success for Bountiful in the Tattersalls £40,000 EBF Novice Stakes.
A winner at Thirsk last month, George Boughey’s filly was sent off at 100-30 to follow up at the Cumbrian venue – and did so in some style against a quartet of colts.
Buick cut a confident figure in the saddle throughout the six-furlong contest, and the further the Highclere Thoroughbred Racing-owned Bountiful went the better she looked, with just under five lengths separating her and the 125-1 runner-up Cugini at the line.
“She did it really well. I’ve never ridden here before, so it’s nice to be here and tick one off the list,” said Buick, who also claimed the concluding Great Community Raceday Saturday 6th July Fillies’ Handicap with Sir Michael Stoute’s Red Pixie (11-8 favourite.
“George was pretty confident beforehand and I think fast ground is key to her. She was well placed to win a nice prize today and she’s beaten colts.
“The track is fine and the ground is beautiful, proper summer ground with a good covering grass. There’s a good crowd, it’s their biggest day of the year and it’s nice to ride a winner.
“There’s only here and Ayr I hadn’t been to before, so now I’ve only got Ayr missing.”
Buick was joined on the long trip north by James Doyle, who fresh from riding four winners at Royal Ascot last week enjoyed his first Carlisle winner in well over a decade aboard Jabaara in the £47,000 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Eternal Stakes.
The daughter of Exceed And Excel was a 6-4 shot to make it back-to-back Listed wins for Roger Varian following her victory in the Queen Of Scots Fillies’ Stakes at Musselburgh earlier in the month. And while market rival Key To Cotai briefly threatened to make a race of it, Jabaara found plenty for pressure in front to see her off by a length and a quarter.
Doyle said: “It was nice and straightforward, they didn’t go overly quick and I thought the leader dictated a bit and I was stuck out a bit wide. I couldn’t push on too much early, but I was keen once we got balanced to let her on as I didn’t want anything getting first jump on us.
“She doesn’t do a whole lot in front, she was similar at Musselburgh the last day. Roger has placed her nicely and she’s knocked off a couple of Listed races now.
“Last time I was here the weighing room was on the other side of the parade ring, so it’s at least 14 years ago. It’s always nice to come to these northern tracks, the crowd here today is brilliant and everyone is getting pictures and conversing with you. It’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?”
The historic Stablemate By AGMA Carlisle Bell went the way of David O’Meara’s stable stalwart Orbaan.
The one-mile feature is one of the track’s most prestigious races, with the two bells on offer to the winner reputed to be the oldest sporting trophy in the world, having first been presented in 1599 when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne.
Orbaan was rated as high as 104 at his peak and made the most of his falling mark of 81 with a one-and-a-quarter-length win in the hands of Danny Tudhope.
The victory was a bittersweet one for connections after another veteran yard favourite, Star Shield, was fatally injured in the preceding Racing Staff Week Carlisle Bell Consolation Handicap, won by Tim Easterby’s Barley (11-2).
Of Orbaan, Tudhope said: “He’s a nine-year-old now and dropping class and deserves to win a race like this.”
Sea The Thunder readily justified favouritism in the Stablemate By AGMA Cumberland Plate.
Ralph Beckett’s three-year-old was a 2-1 market leader off the back of placed efforts at Newmarket and Leicester and after taking a command halfway up the straight, he showed his older rivals the way home by a length and a half.
Winning jockey Hector Crouch said: “It’s nice to get his head in front, he’d been running well without winning.
“He’s been well placed and enjoyed a relatively easy lead and knuckled down well.
“He’s still a big baby – you can see how large he is and he’s raw. He’s only going to come forwards.”
Newcomer Two Shoes (16-1) obliged as trainer Julie Camacho’s first two-year-old runner of the season in the opening Alan Jennings Last Orders Memorial Restricted Maiden Stakes, lunging late to deny Cracking Man by a neck.
Camacho’s husband and assistant, Steve Brown, said: “She’s started nicely, She looked a bit green but once she got organised, she’s really come home well.
The best videos delivered daily
Watch the stories that matter, right from your inbox